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Hormone abuse increasing among youth and athletes
Testing methods for anabolic steroids and human growth hormone lag one step behind.
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Anabolic steroid and human growth hormone use has permeated not only professional sports in the United States, but also American youth.
“It is amazing the lengths that a young athlete or young person will go to look good or perform well today,” Bradley D. Anawalt, MD, told Endocrine Today. They are often unaware of the dangerous effects these hormones may have on the body in the future.
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Widespread prevalence of steroid and GH use is most likely underreported, Anawalt said. In 2005, 4% of high school students reported using anabolic androgenic steroids.
The most obvious reason users turn to steroids is to enhance athletic performance. According to a survey cited by Anawalt during a presentation at the Hormones & Health Science Writers Conference in Washington, D.C., 195 of 198 elite athletes said they would take a banned drug with the guarantee they would win an Olympic medal but not get caught. Fifty percent of the athletes said they would take a banned drug with the guarantee they would not get caught, win every competition for five years and then die from related adverse events.
Steroids and GH use in baseball are at the forefront of conversation for many people, thanks to the December publication of The Mitchell Report and a subsequent Congressional hearing on the topic in January. The Mitchell Report stated that hormone use spanned all major league baseball teams, including more than 80 players.
Fixation on appearance also may contribute to an increase in steroid and GH abuse. GH is the latest fad and its use in young individuals of both sexes is growing, Anawalt said. Like steroids, GH can create a muscular, toned look. Additionally, in younger individuals, height and hand-size increases that sometimes accompany GH abuse may translate into better throwing or catching skills.
“It is not driven just by trying to get a gold medal, but also by trying to obtain what may be an unrealistic image,” said Anawalt, associate professor of medicine, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle.
However, the effects of GH on athletic performance are unknown.
“It is hard for scientists to measure,” he said. “But, if [an athlete] is trying to win the 100-meter and improves by one millisecond, that can be huge.”
Confounding the situation is the fact that testing is always one step behind. Some drugs, such as tetrahydrogestrinone, have been proven to be unstable and disintegrate during the testing process, according to Anawalt. “The people who are trying to abuse these drugs are always one step ahead,” he said. “Testing is not perfect.” – by Katie Kalvaitis
Data for the prevalence of anabolic steroid use from epidemiologic studies average 4% to 8% in adolescent boys and 0.5% to 2% in adolescent girls, although several studies show prevalence rates as high as 12% in boys and 6% in girls. For boys, approximately 50% state that they use anabolic steroids to look good rather than for enhancement of athletic performance. Very few adolescents can afford GH to look good; however, there are a number of legitimate conditions for which GH can be used in children and adolescents. The majority of adults who take GH for this purpose are middle-aged and older and this is part of our anti-aging culture. There are no definitive studies that show efficacy for this purpose.
– Alan Rogol, MD, PhD
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology/Diabetes, University of Virginia Health System
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For more information:
- Anawalt BD. Teens & twenties: Time of natural & unnatural hormone popping. Presented at: Hormones & Health Science Writers Conference: Hormones Through Life – Young Adult Phase; Dec. 7, 2007; Washington.